Mountain biker uses Siri to call 911 after sudden paralysis

Andrew Cho dragged himself using only his chin to his nearby iPhone to use Siri voice-command function to call emergency services.

Cho wasn’t injured during a ride (he was at home at the time of the incident) but the relevance to bikes is that Andrew Cho (29) is marketing manager for GT Bicycles.

Cho was alone in his apartment on January 6th when a blood vessel in his C3 and C4 vertebrae burst and pressure from the trapped blood on to his spinal cord caused him to be paralysed form the neck down. Earlier the same evening Cho has been out with friends and had complained of numbness in his neck and limbs.

Cho’s friend Danny Brody told CTV Vancouver: “He should have been dead. He was able to get to his phone by inching towards it. It took five tries with his tongue – but he got Siri and used voice command to call 911.”

Cho was rushed to Vancouver General Hospital and had emergency surgery to relieve the pressure. The latest news is that Cho has regained some mobility in his right side but there is a long way to go recovery-wise still.

GT Bicycles, the bike industry in general and Cho’s friends and family have set out to raise the $75,000 via GoFundMe for the medical bills that he will face.